Peop Interview

I started my research topic by trying to pick a topic to work with. I was stuck between American infrastructure and electric cars, but in the end I choose electric cars. I pick this because I have a love for cars and just about everything about them. The way I do my research now is very different than it was when I first started this class. I now use the CRAP test to show if the source I’m viewing is reliable. The first thing I do now is I use Pima Community College Library website and Academic Search Premier to truly tell if I can use that source info. Some of the most important parts I found though my research that electric cars are not very popular mostly because of the price, battery life, and the limited charging stations. But I think the Tesla Motor Roadster can fix these problems for America. The Tesla Roadster, selling for $92000, usage an outlet for recharging and it can run up to 250 miles before needing a recharge. It is also a sports car and rockets from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds. That's a huge advance over earlier modes of electric cars because it has newer li ion batteries and can be charged from home. This is the future for electric cars and their batteries. A lot of this information I found on the Pima Library databases. Some questions that I found though my research were that, is there any way to survive without oil? Because from what I found through my sources…I do not think we can. I see a future similar to the world of Mad Max, a sand filled wasteland of people fighting for what little oil is left.  The future does not look good for America and the rest of the world. I do not have any doubts or weaknesses about my sources, but I do feel that I do not have enough information from those sources. So the sources were good just not enough for me. And it was like that for all of the sources I had. It was partly because of the topic I used, electric cars and their batteries. The sources were about electric cars in general and only had a small part about their batteries. If there was any future research on this topic it would have to be over the li ion cell batteries, and about trying to make them smaller and more powerful for the electric cars. The research for electric cars is, for right now, a never ending fight against time until after all the oil is gone and we are fully living off of alternative energy. If anything we need government aid to pay for the research because the big name car makers will not. They will try to milk every damn penny they can until that market is die. I have a problem with people caring more about a dollar then the overall future on this world. Once again li ion cell batteries are the future for electric cars and their batteries. Added research showed that there is still no chance in research for electric cars. Another idea that had been thrown around is the idea of a Li-ion battery.  Today’s electric cars have lithium ion batteries, rechargeable battery using lithium ions as power. Li ion batteries are basically lithium ion batteries that are a “chemical reactions in which lithium ions are swapped between two ends of a battery (known as the anode and the cathode)” (Dllow). The li ion batteries are prefect for electric cars because they could hold ten times the charge of current, lithium ion, batteries and can charge ten times faster. The major problem with lithium ion batteries is that they are wasting energy that could be used to add more voltage to the battery. Because of the lithium ion battery design, the lithium ion creates a bottleneck effect around the edges of the shell and slows the charge rate greatly (Dllow).  The li ion batteries aim to fix that problem and many more that are found with the standard lithium ion battery.

Works Cited

Dllow, Clay. "New Li-ion Battery Design Boosts Energy Capacity and Charge Rate 10-Fold." Popular Science. Popular Science. Web. 02 Apr. 2012.

Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Day 556

 Since the collapse of civilization

            I remember the fallout like it was yesterday, the last remaining fossil fuels we had were gone. Mass chaos broke out and the people went crazy; the government could not control them and they soon fall apart.(1) Where was I during all of this? Well I just finish my major at MIT, for mechanical engineering, and I was heading home for summer. My father, Jesse, knew about the energy crisis and he was prepared for it. He made one of the greatest electric cars to solve this problem. A 1971 ford mustang mach 1 convert for electricity. Usage of an outlet for recharging and it can run up to 250 miles before needing a recharge. It is also a sports car and rockets from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds (1). He built a solar panel into the roof for recharging on the go. But he never got to see the car hit the road.

            So where am I now? Well I’m on the side of the road because it is an electric car and it can run out of power; so I’m waiting for it to recharge. Since I’m waiting here, I guess I can write about an event that happened to me a few weeks ago. It was a day similar to today and I was stuck on the side of the road again waiting for my batteries to charge, so I told the time to explode the area. It looked to be that I’m in a valley of sand with only a single road running through it. Before the fallout people used to call it route 66. As I walked of this hill I saw the most beautiful things ever.(2)

             I found white windmill generator standing over a small village in the sand. The clear white paint still looks to be out of the box it came from.  The hundred foot tower dropped me to my knees and filled me with hope. After I stopped crying for happily, I picked myself up and headed the two miles towards the windmill.

            But as I came close to the village I was greeted by gun point by many guards. They handcuffed my and pulled into the inner walls. I was thrown in front of a very large man, who told me his name was Matt. I told him that I’m only a traveler who saw the windmill and that I mean no pain. I later learned that he was the leader of this small town. That night he described to me that the whole reason why I was treated so violently was because the guards thought I was part of the others. The others were a road gang, who were attacking them for the electricity. Matt went on by saying that that whole town ran off the single windmill.(2) He told me the leader of the others, “the Hunter”, was an angry ex-army captain who wanted the windmill for himself.

            Since my car was still recharging on the side of the road, they let me stay a few nights in one of their spare rooms. And over those few days I developed a sense of family with this small town. 556 days of living and surviving for myself, but now I wanted to help and live with my new family. The feel of love that I had felt before the death of my father. But that feel of happiness was cut short.

            The sky turned dark the smell of fear filled the air. The sounds of happiness turned into sounds of terror. As everyone ran inside in fear of their lives, I ran to the outer walls to see who my enemy was. What I saw was a small group on military vehicles charging at full speed to the windmill. At the front of this gang was a man on a motor bike, who I could only assume was the Hunter.  The smell of gasoline and loud noises was followed by gun shots, and I knew the end was near.

            I ran to the Matt’s house only to find that I was too late. The others had already got to him; he was bleeding out on his living room floor. His last words to me were to grab some of the extra batteries from the windmill and get the hell out of here. I ran from house to house out of the eye line of the others as they raped and pillaged. Once I made it to the base of the tower, I grabbed all the batteries I could and ran only because I knew I could not stop them. The only hope for me was my car that was two miles away.

            Once I made it outside the walls of the small town I could smell smoke raise for inside the walls. After I made it to my mustang, I changed some of the batteries and got out, but not fast enough to see that beautiful windmill fall to the ground.  

            That is the end of that story but I guess as one door closes another opens. As I wait for this these batteries, my only hope is that I can find a world that is better than this hell hole that I’m in now…

1. Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

2. Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Tesla Motors

            Within a world with a limited amount of fossil fuels left, car manufacturers are trying to go green and find other alternatives to gasoline. Because of this problem, electric cars are now returning for their shallow graves. The electric car died in the late 1970’s, early 80’s because big name oil did not like losing money to other companies, so they invested lots of money to destroy electric vehicles. Some of the major problems with electric cars are that the costs of the batteries are extremely high, weak lithium batteries, and no areas to recharge those batteries. The Tesla Motors company aims to fix those problems.

            “Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by a group of intrepid Silicon Valley engineers who set out to prove that electric vehicles could be awesome” (Tesla). This car manufacturer only focuses on making good electric vehicles for a worldwide market. For buying their cars, the United States government offers a $7,500 tax credit (Tuite).

            The Tesla Roadster hit the streets in 2008 and no other car could compete. The Roadster, selling for $92000, usage an outlet for recharging and it can run up to 250 miles before needing a recharge. It is also a sports car and rockets from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds (Tuite). That's a huge advance over earlier modes of electric cars because it has newer li ion batteries and can be charged from home. This is the future for electric cars. “Three years later, over 2,100 Roadsters drive emissions free in more than 32 countries” (Telsa). Its single gear box means no clutch work is needed to achieve instant acceleration (Tuite).

            Because Tesla vehicles run only off electricity, they are greatly more ecofriendly than their gasoline counterpart. Tesla explained on their website that “assuming half of all US electricity comes from coal, Tesla vehicles cut in half the CO2 emissions of its petroleum burning rivals”. And this problem can easily be fixed solar panels and wind mills. The Tesla Roadster costs as little as 5 dollars to charge, which is about $0.02 per mile; a gasoline powered car that has 20 miles per gallon costs about $0.15 per mile (Tuite). In the long run, The Tesla roadster is going to be the winner.

            In conclusion, the Tesla roadster is the future for electric cars and their batteries. Tesla Motors has really found a way to fix the energy crisis. Since the company is so new, they have barely shown what they can do. Fortunately, reducing the use of oil for transportation can quickly increase independence and reduce emissions. Tesla vehicles are seminal to developing a cleaner, more independent transportation paradigm.

For more information check out Tesla Motors Blog at http://www.teslamotors.com/blog

Works Cited

Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

"Tesla Motors | Premium Electric Vehicles." Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors, 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.teslamotors.com/>.

Dear Blog Reader,

I write this to you to talk about RE2. This paper felt better to write than RE1 but the only thing I felt I fell short on was the overall word count. All my ideas made it to the paper but if I had more time I could have made the word count. The writing process that I feel that I achieved would be Rhetorical Knowledge. I choose Rhetorical Knowledge because I had to write in a different type of genre, blogging. It's a new style because the writer has to change their voice and format but still try to have the same ideas. Parts of my paper had to be change from a normal essay format to a blog post, like "The li ion batteries aim to fix that problem and many more that are found with the standard lithium ion battery. For more research about the li ion battery go to http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/new-li-ion-battery-design-boosts-energy-capacity-and-charge-rate-10-fold". things I learned from this paper that i could take to other classes would be using different formats to have a different or bigger audience. My favorite part from my paper would be the last sentence, which states "This is the future for electric cars and their batteries. If this does not work then the hope for a positive future with cars will be thrown into the dark ages". I like it because it's a warning to fix the problem that is raising or there will be no future for cars. I hope I get a positive grade on this paper because I felt I worked hard on it.

Your Favorite Blogger,
Jesse

Is there a future for electric cars and their batteries?

Picture a time in the near future where there are no cars, no boats, no planes, no anything. A barren wasteland with no means of transportation, other than horse, and what little fossil fuels are left, is fought over by road gangs and a road warrior. With no trucks, shipping food and other essential goods is nearly impossible. The survival rate for everyone drops to zero. This could be the world of tomorrow if America can not find an alternative for fossil fuels. Electric vehicles have helped the problem but with a low life battery, they will be short lived. Is there a future for batteries in electric vehicles?

One major way to create a meaningful future for electric cars, and their batteries, is to make them available to the mass public. The problem with today’s electric cars is that the batteries that are used are very expensive because they are not widely made and most batteries are made outside the states. Kevin explains, in his article titled “Building Batteries for Electric Cars”, “Just a few years ago American businesses could only make 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles—just 2 percent”(80). This shows that if there was an increase of battery production in the United States then the electric car can become popular.

The negative popularly can be supported through my observation. The observation took place on Wednesday March 21on the East side of Tucson, Arizona from 4pm to 6pm in three large parking lots; Wal-Mart, Target, and K-mart. The results show that Wal-Mart, on 7150 East Speedway Boulevard, had 78 cars in the parking lot with only two cars being electric and 76 being normal gasoline powered cars. Target, on 9615 East Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85748, had no electric cars and 56 normal cars. The third and final parking lot, K-mart at 7055 E Broadway Blvd, only had one electric car and 44 normal cars.

Another idea that had been thrown around is the idea of a Li-ion battery. Today’s electric cars have lithium ion batteries, rechargeable battery using lithium ions as power (The Professor). Li ion batteries are basically lithium ion batteries that are a “chemical reactions in which lithium ions are swapped between two ends of a battery (known as the anode and the cathode)” (Dllow). The li ion batteries are prefect for electric cars because they could hold ten times the charge of current, lithium ion, batteries and can charge ten times faster. (The Professor). The major problem with lithium ion batteries is that they are wasting energy that could be used to add more voltage to the battery. Because of the lithium ion battery design, the lithium ion creates a bottleneck effect around the edges of the shell and slows the charge rate greatly (Dllow). The li ion batteries aim to fix that problem and many more that are found with the standard lithium ion battery. For more research about the li ion battery go to http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/new-li-ion-battery-design-boosts-energy-capacity-and-charge-rate-10-fold

The last possible idea to save the batteries of electric cars is to make recharging stations available to the public. With electric vehicles, once the batteries are dead they need to be recharged to work again; that causes a problem if there is no charging stations or home outlets. “You can't take a gas can and walk down the highway to pick up five bucks worth of electricity” (Hewitt). These batteries take many hours to fully charge. Using a house outlet, “the Nissan Leaf takes approximately eight hours to recharge” (Tuite). But with a Fast Charge station, the time to recharge the Leaf to 80% capacity would be about 30 minutes. If there were more advancement with the available of types of charging stations, like home units, then the future of electric cars would be saved.

In conclusion, America needs a electric car that has batteries that are widely available to the public, a new type of battery, and that have more charging stations available for it. The Tesla Roadster, selling for $92000, usage an outlet for recharging and it can run up to 250 miles before needing a recharge. It is also a sports car and rockets from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds (Tuite). That's a huge advance over earlier modes of electric cars because it has newer li ion batteries and can be charged from home. This is the future for electric cars and their batteries. If this does not work then the hope for a positive future with cars will be thrown into the dark ages.  1171

Works Cited

Bullis, Kevin. "Building Batteries For Electric Cars." Technology Review 114.2 (2011): 80. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Dllow, Clay. "New Li-ion Battery Design Boosts Energy Capacity and Charge Rate 10-Fold." Popular Science. Popular Science. Web. 02 Apr. 2012.

Hewitt, Ben. "THE 110-VOLT SOLUTION. (Cover Story)." Popular Mechanics 184.5 (2007): 64-144. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

The Professor. Personal interview. 20 March 2012.

Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Is there a future for electric cars and their batteries?

Picture a time in the near future where there are no cars, no boats, no planes, no anything. A barren wasteland with no means of transportation, other than horse, and what little fossil fuels are left, is fought over by road gangs and a road warrior. With no trucks, shipping food and other essential goods is nearly impossible. The survival rate for everyone drops to zero. This could be the world of tomorrow if America can not find an alternative for fossil fuels. Electric vehicles have helped the problem but with a low life battery, they will be short lived. Is there a future for batteries in electric vehicles?

            One major way to create a meaningful future for electric cars, and their batteries, is to make them available to the mass public. The problem with today’s electric cars is that the batteries that are used are very expensive because they are not widely made and most batteries are made outside the states. Kevin explains, in his article titled “Building Batteries for Electric Cars”, “Just a few years ago American businesses could only make 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles—just 2 percent” (80).  This shows that if there was an increase of battery production in the United States then the electric car can become popular.

The negative popularly can be supported through my observation. The observation took place on Wednesday March 21on the East side of Tucson, Arizona from 4pm to 6pm in three large parking lots; Wal-Mart, Target, and K-mart. The results show that Wal-Mart, on 7150 East Speedway Boulevard, had 78 cars in the parking lot with only two cars being electric and 76 being normal gasoline powered cars. Target, on 9615 East Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85748, had no electric cars and 56 normal cars. The third and final parking lot, K-mart at 7055 E Broadway Blvd, only had one electric car and 44 normal cars.

            Another idea that had been thrown around is the idea of a Li-ion battery.  Today’s electric cars have lithium ion batteries, rechargeable battery using lithium ions as power (The Professor). Li ion batteries are basically lithium ion batteries that are a “chemical reactions in which lithium ions are swapped between two ends of a battery (known as the anode and the cathode)” (Dllow). The li ion batteries are prefect for electric cars because they could hold ten times the charge of current, lithium ion, batteries and can charge ten times faster. (The Professor). The major problem with lithium ion batteries is that they are wasting energy that could be used to add more voltage to the battery. Because of the lithium ion battery design, the lithium ion creates a bottleneck effect around the edges of the shell and slows the charge rate greatly (Dllow).  The li ion batteries aim to fix that problem and many more that are found with the standard lithium ion battery. For more research about the li ion battery go to http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/new-li-ion-battery-design-boosts-energy-capacity-and-charge-rate-10-fold

            The last possible idea to save the batteries of electric cars is to make recharging stations available to the public. With electric vehicles, once the batteries are dead they need to be recharged to work again; that causes a problem if there is no charging stations or home outlets. “You can't take a gas can and walk down the highway to pick up five bucks worth of electricity” (Hewitt). These batteries take many hours to fully charge. Using a house outlet, “the Nissan Leaf takes approximately eight hours to recharge” (Tuite). But with a Fast Charge station, the time to recharge the Leaf to 80% capacity would be about 30 minutes. If there were more advancement with the available of types of charging stations, like home units, then the future of electric cars would be saved.

            The Tesla Roadster, selling for $92000, usage an outlet for recharging and it can run up to 250 miles before needing a recharge. It is also a sports car and rockets from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds (Tuite). That's a huge advance over earlier modes of electric cars because it has newer li ion batteries and can be charged from home. This is the future for electric cars and their batteries. If this does not work then the hope for a positive future with cars will be thrown into the dark ages.

Works Cited

Bullis, Kevin. "Building Batteries For Electric Cars." Technology Review 114.2 (2011): 80. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Dllow, Clay. "New Li-ion Battery Design Boosts Energy Capacity and Charge Rate 10-Fold." Popular Science. Popular Science. Web. 02 Apr. 2012.

Hewitt, Ben. "THE 110-VOLT SOLUTION. (Cover Story)." Popular Mechanics 184.5 (2007): 64-144. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

The Professor. Personal interview. 20 March 2012.

Tuite, Don. "Racing Against Time To Charge The Family Car." Electronic Design 59.8 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Interview Transcript
What are the type of batteries that are used today?
            Lithium-ion batteries
Is there any development in electric cars today?
            Lots, the most promising from what I can find are the li-ion batteries
What is the battery life of today’s battery?

around ten years; if the owner use long low voltage charging and it can be different if they use higher voltage

What do future batteries hope to have for a life span?
            research has shown that if taken care of could be up to 50 years
How long does it take to charge today’s batteries for electric cars?

Every electric car is different, but on a normal 120 voltage (household outlet) it can take around 10-15 hours, if the voltage goes up the time goes down

Why do you feel that electric cars are returning?

They died during the late 80’s because of big name oil, but because of the energy crisis they are returning because we need to stop using gas.

What do future batteries hope to have for a recharge rate?

Like I said before li-ion batteries are the way to go, it’s said they could recharge up to ten times faster

What is the cost for the batteries for electric cars?

Once again it depends on the car and its manufacturer; some, from what i have seen, can go from 6,000 to 10,000 dollars.

Is there a future for electric cars?

For right now, yes because biofuels are nice but the mpg you would get for it would not outweigh the cost, or until research finds something more its only way we can go

Observation

The observation took place on wednesday March 21 from 4pm to 6pm in three large parking lots; walmart, target, and kmart. The results show that walmart had 78 cars in the parking lot with only two cars being electric and 76 being normal gasoline powered cars. Target had no electric cars and 56 normal cars. The third and final parking lot, kmart, only had one electric cars and 44 normal cars.